Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Thermal histories and emplacement dynamics of rhyolitic obsidian lavas at Valles caldera, New Mexico

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Bulletin of Volcanology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The emplacement behaviors and the associated hazards of silicic lavas remain poorly understood because detailed real-time observations have only been made during a few modern eruptions. Therefore, we rely on older well-preserved glassy rhyolites like Banco Bonito and the VC-1 Rhyolite from the Valles caldera, New Mexico to constrain the emplacement behaviors of silicic lavas. Continuous whole cores, collected from both units during drilling in 1984 by the Continental Scientific Drilling Program, provide the unique opportunity to assess the rheological evolution of the interior of obsidian lavas. Banco Bonito is a large (0.9 km3; up to 150 m thick) obsidian lava coulée. The VC-1 Rhyolite is a relatively thin (~ 20 m) obsidian rhyolite that is not exposed at the surface and has an unclear emplacement history. Evidence for the emplacement dynamics of these two units is preserved as trends in volatile content and thermal history through the thicknesses of the rhyolite obsidians. We acquired 46 glassy samples from the VC-1 drill core through the entire thicknesses of both Banco Bonito and the VC-1 Rhyolite. We measured Archimedean densities, glass water concentrations using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and natural cooling rates using relaxation geospeedometry as a function of depth for both rhyolite obsidians. Systematic trends in both datasets provide evidence of the emplacement style of Banco Bonito and the VC-1 Rhyolite in the vicinity of the VC-1 drill hole. Total water contents range from 0.03 ± 0.01 up to 6.93 ± 1.09 wt. % for Banco Bonito, and range from 0.24 ± 0.06 to 1.08 ± 0.05 wt. % for the VC-1 Rhyolite. Both rhyolite obsidians display evidence of having been partially rehydrated. Cooling rates are fastest near the top and bottom of Banco Bonito (up to tens of °C s−1) and are slowest in the center of the flow (< 1 °C year−1). The VC-1 Rhyolite has fast cooling near the bottom of the flow (tens of °C s−1), but top and interior of the flow cooled slowly (< 1 °C year−1). We find that Banco Bonito was likely emplaced in an exogenous or “tank-tread” style because primary magmatic water (OH−) concentrations are at or below predicted solubility values for a given depth and eruption temperature, and measured cooling rates resemble values predicted by a conductive cooling model of a single flow unit. We estimate an emplacement timescale for Banco Bonito of < 3 months by combining a conductive cooling model, estimated glass transition temperatures using dissolved OH− concentrations, and a crustal thickness relationship used on active flows. We conclude that the VC-1 Rhyolite was likely emplaced as a lava that has been partially eroded based on stratigraphic evidence and the absence of fast cooling near the current top of the unit.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Source DEM from Jemez River Basin Snow-off LiDAR Survey. Distributed by OpenTopography (10.5069/G9RB72JV). Accessed: 2022–05-17. Projected in QGIS using CRS EPSG:26,913—NAD83/UTM zone 13 N

Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Avard G, Whittington AG (2012) Rheology of arc dacite lavas: experimental determination at low strain rates. Bull Volcanol 74:1039–1056. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-012-0584-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey RA, Smith RL, Ross CS (1969) Stratigraphic nomenclature of volcanic rocks in the Jemez Mountains, New Mexico. Geol Surv Bull 1274:1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertin D, Lara LE, Basualto D, Amigo Á, Cardona C, Franco L (2015) High effusion rates of the Cordón Caulle 2011–12 eruption (Southern Andes) and their relationship with the quasi-harmonic tremor. Geophys Res Lett 42:7054–7063. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl064624

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bottinga Y, Weill DF (1972) The viscosity of magmatic silicate liquids; a model calculation. Am J Sci 272:438–475. https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.272.5.438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bullock LA, Gertisser R, O’Driscoll B, Harland S (2019) Magmatic evolution and textural development of the 1739 CE Pietre Cotte lava flow, Vulcano, Italy. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 372:1–13

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castro JM, Dingwell DB, Nichols ARL, Gardner JE (2005) New insights on the origin of flow bands in obsidian. In: Manga M, Ventura G (ed) Lava flow dynamics, Geol Soc Am Spec Pap 396:55–64. https://doi.org/10.1130/2005.2396(05)

  • Castro JM, Walter S (2021) Hybrid rhyolite eruption at Big Glass Mountain, CA, USA. Volcanica 4:257–277. https://doi.org/10.30909/vol.04.02.257277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook GW, Wolff JA, Self S (2016) Estimating the eruptive volume of a large pyroclastic body: the Otowi member of the Bandelier Tuff, Valles Caldera. New Mexico Bull Volcanol 78:10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-016-1000-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeBolt MA, Easteal AJ, Macedo PB, Moynihan CT (1976) Analysis of structural relaxation in glass using rate heating data. J Am Ceram Soc 59:16–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeGroat-Nelson PJ, Cameron BI, Fink JH, Holloway JR (2001) Hydrogen isotope analysis of rehydrated silicic lavas: implications for eruption mechanisms. Earth Planet Sci Lett 185:331–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eichelberger JC, Carrigan CR, Westrich HR, Price RH (1986) Non-explosive silicic volcanism. Nature 323:598–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eichler CM, Spell TL (2020) Petrogenesis of three East Fork Member rhyolites of the Jemez volcanic field, Valles caldera, New Mexico, USA. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 389:106706. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2019.106706

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farquharson JI, James MR, Tuffen H (2015) Examining rhyolite lava flow dynamics through photo-based 3D reconstructions of the 2011–2012 lava flowfield at Cordón-Caulle, Chile. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 304:336–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.09.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farr TG, Rosen PA, Caro E, Crippen R, Duren R, Hensley S, Kobrick M, Paller M, Rodriguez E, Roth L, Seal D, Shaffer S, Shimada J, Umland J, Werner M, Oskin M, Burbank D, Alsdorf D (2007) The shuttle radar topography mission. Rev Geophys 45:1–33. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005RG000183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink J (1980) Surface folding and viscosity of rhyolite flows. Geology 8:250–254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fink JH, Griffiths RW (1998) Morphology, eruption rates, and rheology of lava domes: insights from laboratory models. J Geophys Res 103:527–545

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman I (1989) Are extrusive rhyolites produced from permeable foam eruptions? Bull Volcanol 51:69–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JN, Goff F, Kelley S, Jacobs E (2010) Rhyolites and associated deposits of the Valles-Toledo caldera complex. New Mex Geol 32:3–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner JE, Llewellin EW, Watkins JM, Befus KS (2017) Formation of obsidian pyroclasts by sintering of ash particles in the volcanic conduit. Earth Planet Sci Lett 459:252–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.11.037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giachetti T, Hudak MR, Shea T, Bindeman IN, Hoxsie EC (2020) D/H ratios and H2O contents record degassing and rehydration history of rhyolitic magma and pyroclasts. Earth Planet Sci Lett 530:115909. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115909

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giordano D, Russell JK, Dingwell DB (2008) Viscosity of magmatic liquids: a model. Earth Planet Sci Lett 271:123–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2008.03.038

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goff F, Rowley J, Gardner JN, Hawkins W, Goff S (1986) Initial results from VC-1, first Continental Scientific Drilling Program core hole in Valles caldera, New Mexico. J Geophys Res 91:1742–1752

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goff F, Warren RG, Goff CJ, Dunbar N (2014) Eruption of reverse-zoned upper Tshirege Member, Bandelier Tuff from centralized vents within Valles caldera, New Mexico. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 276:82–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gonnermann HM, Manga M (2003) Explosive volcanism may not be an inevitable consequence of magma fragmentation. Nature 426:432–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottsmann J, Dingwell DB (2001) Cooling dynamics of spatter-fed phonolite obsidian flows on Tenerife, Canary Islands. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 105:323–342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottsmann J, Dingwell DB (2001) The cooling of frontal flow ramps: a calorimetric study on the Rocche Rosse rhyolite flow, Lipari, Aeolian Islands, Italy. Terra Nova 13:157–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottsmann J, Dingwell DB (2002) The thermal history of a spatter-fed lava flow: the 8-ka pantellerite flow of Mayor Island, New Zealand. Bull Volcanol 64:410–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ihinger PD, Zhang Y, Stolper EM (1999) The speciation of dissolved water in rhyolitic melt. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:3567–3578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenderes SM, Whittington AG (2021) Faster geospeedometry: a Monte Carlo approach to relaxational geospeedometry for determining cooling rates of natural volcanic glasses. Chem Geol 581:120385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2021.120385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ku HH (1966) Notes on the use of propagation of error formulas. J Res Natl Bur Stand 70C(4):263–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Lara L (2008) The 2008 eruption of the Chaitén volcano, Chile: a preliminary report. Andean Geol 36:125–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Lecinsky DT, Merle O (2005) Extensional and compressional strain in lava flows and the formation of fractures in surface crust. Geol Soc Bull 396:163–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Leggett TN, Befus KS, Kenderes SM (2020) Rhyolite lava emplacement dynamics inferred from surface morphology. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 395:106850. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2020.106850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Y, Zhang Y, Behrens H (2005) Solubility of H2O in rhyolitic melts at low pressures and a new empirical model for mixed H2O-CO2 solubility in rhyolitic melts. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 143:219–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2004.09.019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mader HM, Llewellin EW, Mueller SP (2013) The rheology of two-phase magmas: a review and analysis. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 257:135–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnall N, James MR, Tuffen H, Vye-Brown C (2017) Emplacing a cooling-limited rhyolite lava flow: similarities with basaltic lava flows. Front Earth Sci 5:44. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnall N, James MR, Tuffen H, Vye-Brown C, Schipper CI, Castro JM, Gerard Davies A (2018) The origin and evolution of breakouts in a cooling-limited rhyolite lava flow. Geol Soc Am Bull 131:137–154. https://doi.org/10.1130/B31931.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnani MB, Miller KC, Levander A, Karlstrom K (2004) The Yavapai-Mazatzal boundary: a long-lived tectonic element in the lithosphere of southwestern North America. Geol Soc Am Bull 116:1137–1142. https://doi.org/10.1130/B25414.1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manley CR, Fink JH (1987) Internal textures of rhyolite flows as revealed by research drilling. Geology 15:549–552

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Merle O (1998) Internal strain within lava flows from analogue modelling. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 81:189–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moynihan CT (1995) Structural relaxation and the glass transition. In: Stebbins JF, McMillan PF, Dingwell DB (eds) Structure, dynamics and properties of silicate melts, Reviews in mineralogy and geochemistry 32. Mineralogical Society of America, Washington D.C, pp 1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Murase T, McBirney AR (1973) Properties of some common igneous rocks and their melts at high temperatures. Geol Soc Bull 84:3563–3592

  • Narayanaswamy OS (1971) A model of structural relaxation in glass. J Am Ceram Soc 54:491–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Narayanaswamy OS (1988) Thermorheological simplicity in the glass transition. J Am Ceram Soc 71:900–904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nasholds MWM (2020) Quantifying the timescales of eruptions and resurgence following caldera collapse: 40Ar/39Ar dating and volume estimations of post-caldera volcanism at Valles caldera, northern New Mexico, USA. Thesis, New Mexico Tech.

  • Newman S, Stolper EM, Epstein S (1986) Measurement of water in rhyolitic glasses: calibration of an infrared spectroscopic technique. Am Miner 71:1527–1541

    Google Scholar 

  • Pallister JS, Diefenbach AK, Burton WC, Muñoz J, Griswold JP, Lara LE, Lowenstern JB, Valenzuela CE (2013) The Chaitén rhyolite lava dome: eruption sequence, lava dome volumes, rapid effusion rates and source of the rhyolitic magma. Andean Geol 40:277–294

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips EH, Goff F, Kyle PR, McIntosh WC, Dunbar NW, Gardner JN (2007) The 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on the duration of resurgence at the Valles caldera, New Mexico. J Geophys Res 112:B0821. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JB004511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romine WL, Whittington AG (2015) Corrigendum to “A simple model for the viscosity of rhyolites as a function of temperature, pressure and water content.” Geochim Cosmochim Acta 195:339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2016.09.026

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romine WL, Whittington AG, Nabelek PI, Hofmeister AM (2012) Thermal diffusivity of rhyolitic glasses and melts: effects of temperature, crystals, and dissolved water. Bull Volcanol 74:2273–2287. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-012-0661-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ross CS, Smith RL (1955) Water and other volatiles in volcanic glasses. Am Min 40:1071–1089

    Google Scholar 

  • Schipper CI, Castro JM, Tuffen H, James MR, How P (2013) Shallow vent architecture during hybrid explosive-effusive activity at Cordón Caulle (Chile, 2011–12): evidence from direct observations and pyroclast textures. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 262:25–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Self S, Wolff JA, Spell TL, Skuba CE, Morrissey MM (1991) Revisions to the stratigraphy and volcanology of the post-0.5 Ma units and the volcanic section of VC-1 core hole, Valles caldera, New Mexico. J Geophys Res 96:4107–4116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw HR (1972) Viscosities of magmatic silicate liquids: an empirical method of prediction. Am J Sci 272:870–893

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spell TL, Harrison TM (1993) 40Ar/39Ar geochronology of post-Valles caldera rhyolites, Jemez volcanic field, New Mexico. J Geophys Res 98:8031–8051

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stolper E (1982) Water in silicate glasses: an infrared spectroscopic study. Contrib Miner Petrol 81:1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor BE, Eichelberger JC, Westrich HR (1983) Hydrogen isotopics evidence of rhyolitic magma degassing during shallow intrusion and eruption. Nature 306:541–545

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuffen H, Dingwell DB, Pinkerton H (2003) Repeated fracture and healing of silicic magma generate flow banding and earthquakes? Geology 31:1089–1092

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tuffen H, James MR, Castro JM, Schipper CI (2013) Exceptional mobility of an advancing rhyolitic obsidian flow at Cordón Caulle volcano in Chile. Nat Comm 4:2709. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3709

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ventura G (2004) The strain path and kinematics of lava domes: an example from Lipari (Aeolian Islands, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). J Geophys Res 109:B01203. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JB002740

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wadsworth FB, Llewellin EW, Vasseur J, Gardner JE, Tuffen H (2020) Explosive-effusive volcanic eruption transitions caused by sintering. Sci Adv 6:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilding MC, Webb SL, Dingwell DB (1995) Evaluation of a relaxation geospeedometer for volcanic glasses. Chem Geol 125:137–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilding MC, Webb S, Dingwell DB, Ablay G, Marti J (1996) Cooling rate variation in natural volcanic glasses from Tenerife, Canary Islands. Contrib Miner Petrol 125:151–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilding MC, Smellie JL, Morgan S, Lesher CE, Wilson L (2004) Cooling process recorded in subglacially erupted rhyolite glasses: rapid quenching, thermal buffering, and the formation of meltwater. J Geophys Res 109:B08201. https://doi.org/10.1029/2003JB002721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wisniewski PA, Pazzaglia FJ (2002) Epeirogenic controls on Canadian River incision and landscape evolution, Great Plains of northeastern New Mexico. J Geol 110:437–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wohletz K (1999) Heat3D: Magmatic heat flow calculation. Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-CC-99–27. http://geodynamics.lanl.gov/Wohletz/Heat.htm. Accessed May 20, 2020

  • Wolff JA, Ramos FC (2014) Processes in caldera-forming high-silica rhyolite magma: Rb-Sr and Pb isotope systematics of the Otowi Member of the Bandelier Tuff, Valles, Caldera, New Mexico, USA. J Petrol 55:345–375. https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egt070

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff JA, Brunstad KA, Gardner JN (2011) Reconstruction of the most recent volcanic eruptions from the Valles caldera, New Mexico. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 199:53–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wondraczek L, Gross GP, Heide G, Kloess G, Frischat GH (2003) Abbe numbers and refractive indices of tektites and volcanic glasses. J Non-Cryst Sol 323:127–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang Y, Belcher R, Ihinger PD, Wang L, Xu Z, Newman S (1997) New calibration of infrared measurement of dissolved water in rhyolitic glasses. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 61:3089–3100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerer MJ, Lafferty J, Coble MA (2016) The eruptive and magmatic history of the youngest pulse of volcanism at the Valles caldera: implications for successfully dating late Quaternary eruptions. J Volcanol Geotherm Res 310:50–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.11.021

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Graham Andrews and Shelby Isom for conversations regarding silicic lava emplacement. We would also like to thank M James for handling the manuscript and M James, R Carey, and C Manley for providing thoughtful comments that greatly improved the manuscript.

Funding

Support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (Award Number EAR 1724581 to AW and EAR 1725003 to KB) and the MU Department of Geological Sciences. The MU Calorimetry lab (now the Heat And Mass Transfer & Experimental Rheology, or HAMsTER lab at UTSA) was established by the National Science Foundation (Award Number EAR 1220051) and NASA (Award number NNX12AO44G).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, 65211, USA

    S. M. Kenderes & A. N. Bryson

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    S. M. Kenderes

  3. Department of Geosciences, Baylor University, Waco, TX, 76798, USA

    K. S. Befus

  4. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX, 78255, USA

    A. G. Whittington

Authors
  1. S. M. Kenderes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K. S. Befus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A. N. Bryson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. G. Whittington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. M. Kenderes.

Additional information

Editorial responsibility: M.R. James

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kenderes, S.M., Befus, K.S., Bryson, A.N. et al. Thermal histories and emplacement dynamics of rhyolitic obsidian lavas at Valles caldera, New Mexico. Bull Volcanol 84, 98 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-022-01606-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-022-01606-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation